


As Long As There Are Dreamers There Will Always Be Sailors

by unwhithered



Series: Dreamers & Sailors [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series - Karen Traviss, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 501st Legion - Freeform, AU - everybody lives!, Desertion, Gen, The Wrong Jedi, Torrent Company
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-10 20:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7860745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwhithered/pseuds/unwhithered
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kal Skirata doesn't know why he's surprised when Ordo comms him to say that the entire 501st has up and disappeared from the barracks with no warning and no orders. If the Jedi worry that the Nulls and Omega are Kal’s private army, then the 501st is certainly Skywalker’s.</p><p>Short fix-it for the end of the Wrong Jedi, wherein Anakin leaves the Order to follow Ahsoka rather than watching her walk off alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Eric Bogle's _Safe in the Harbor_.

Kal Skirata doesn't know why he's surprised when Ordo comms him to say that the entire 501st has up and disappeared from the barracks with no warning and no orders. If the Jedi worry that the Nulls and Omega are Kal’s private army, then the 501st is certainly Skywalker’s. While he's never met the man, he's heard both the propaganda broadcasts and the whispers about the Hero With No Fear just like everyone else in the Grand Army of the Republic, and seen what looked like half the legion tagging along after their tiny Padawan Commander in the barracks. Personally, Skirata thinks that the man is just as reckless and wasteful as his former Master, General Kenobi, but there’s no denying his effectiveness - and the fact that the 501st has one of the lowest casualty rates in the GAR. 

The fact that Bard’ika respects Skywalker goes a long way, too.

So yes, perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised that after Commander Tano’s very public - and, according to Ordo, very rigged - trial, and Tano’s departure followed by General Skywalker’s equally public and noisy renunciation of his position in the Jedi order, the loyal 501st was shaken. Shaken enough to abandon their posts and follow their General into the unknown. 

He wonders how long it will take others to follow.

\----------------

For his part, former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker _is_ surprised. Stunned speechless, in fact, when he turns away from the nondescript ship he and Ahsoka are planning to hotwire and finds nearly a hundred and fifty almost-identical faces looking up at him. Even dressed in a rough mix of civilian clothing rather than their distinctive and highly decorated armor, he recognizes every man in Torrent company with ease, and knows Ahsoka does as well by her sharp intake of breath. They feel so different in the force. But above all, they all feel sure - absolutely, unflinchingly confident in their choice.

And their choice is desertion. 

“Torrent company reporting for duty, General.” Even in civvies, with his bleach-blonde hair covered by a hood and no blasters hanging from his belt Rex looks every bit the army captain as he steps forward from the crowd. “The 501st is on the lower levels and waiting for orders.”

Anakin could tell them to return to their barracks. Put on his best command voice and order them to go back to - what, a war led by a corrupt Jedi Council and a failing Senate, to lay down their lives for a Republic that doesn’t even regard them as worthy of rights? And anyway, someone has surely noticed the unauthorized absence of an entire legion by now. At the very least the Clone Officers will be facing court-martial for treason, no matter how ridiculous the idea of committing treason against a government that doesn’t grant you citizenship is.

Instead he blinks down at his padawan and finds her smiling.

“We’re going to need a bigger ship, Master.”

They steal it from a slaver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Republic Commandos + The Clone Wars give me so many feels which I feel the need to share. I'm considering writing how Ahsoka and Anakin actually leave, and follow-ups about what the 501st and their former Generals get up to during the end of the Clone Wars.


	2. Some Men Are Schemers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I set out to write Anakin rage-quitting the Order to leave with Ahsoka and instead got a heap of Obi-Wan & Anakin feels. I don't think Obi-Wan was treated at all fairly in this story arc - having him just stand by and let that happen to Ahsoka. No way. So I guess this is my attempt at redeeming him.
> 
> Chapter title still from Eric Bogle's _Safe in the Harbor_.

**Two Days Before the Desertion of the 501st Legion**

“Anakin.”

Once upon a time, Anakin had found Obi-Wan’s accent grating and pretentious, resenting it just like he had resented everything else about his master in his worst moments and rudely imitating it to other padawans. Hearing it emanate from his darkened room in the Temple now has the opposite effect, soothing Anakin’s raw nerves with just the sound of his own name. 

“ _Master_ ,” he replies, voice hoarse as if he has been shouting when in fact he has been bottling up all of his harsh words for hours. Throwing a temper tantrum, as Obi-Wan would call it, won’t help his padawan, though every Jedi in the Temple must have felt his seething anger by now. He wants - _needs_ \- to vent it somehow. To scream that this isn’t fair, that Ahsoka is being framed, that the Council and the Senate are blind and paranoid and are punishing an innocent young girl. A girl who has put her life on the line to protect the Republic day in and day out for two years while they sit on their pompous asses, on a planet that has never truly been threatened, making decisions that send thousands to their deaths. They aren’t worthy to speak to Ahsoka, let alone sit in judgement of her.

Two years ago, Anakin might have screamed those things at Obi-Wan for lack of a better target. Having his own padawan has taught him much about the bond between student and master since then. Instead he sinks to his knees beside Obi-Wan’s chair in the dimly-lit safety of his own chamber, and bows his head to rest against his Master’s leg. There is nothing he can say to explain his guilt, rage, and weakness that Obi-Wan doesn’t already know, he’s sure.

A soft sigh of “oh, _Anakin_ ,” confirms it a moment later. Obi-Wan begins to run his fingers through Anakin’s shaggy hair as if he was still a youngling having nightmares of his mother - they have all been indulging in far too many physical comforts and attachments since the war began, but this one is safest and most familiar. The tension in Anakin’s neck unwinds slowly. “I am so sorry. But you must listen to me now.”

Perhaps waiting for some kind of acknowledgement, Obi-Wan lets the silence between them stretch for long minutes. The air between them feels alive, crackling with emotions in the Force that Anakin realizes don’t all belong to him. Obi-Wan’s anger feels cold and brittle compared to the raging fire of his own; his pain sharp, resigned, and buried deeper than Anakin has ever managed. While his former Master doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, Anakin learned long ago that he isn’t as emotionally disconnected as he sometimes appears from the outside.

“I have been worried about the Council for some time.” Though still measured and sophisticated, Obi-Wan’s voice wavers for a moment as if he’s stepping onto unsure footing. “We are far too entangled with the Senate. We cannot be both a separate entity and the military wing of the Republic, and lately the latter has won out. There are no longer any internal Jedi affairs. Every decision has immense political ramifications, expediency too often prevailing over justice.” A pause, another soft sigh, and Obi-Wan’s hand stills in Anakin’s hair. “The treatment of your padawan is just more proof. The Council has chosen to allow a witch hunt rather than protect one of our own, for the sake of saving face. It is…”

“Unforgivable,” Anakin finishes for him, raising his head to meet Obi-Wan’s eyes.

“Yes. Perhaps that is the word that I’ve been searching for.” The corner of Obi-Wan’s mouth pulls up, but his eyes are too dim for Anakin to mistake it as a smile. When did his master acquire so many wrinkles? “You must continue trying to prove Ahsoka’s innocence, Anakin, but I fear it will not be enough - Admiral Tarkin is not overly concerned with justice and neither is the council, and I sense a darker force is pulling the Admiral’s strings. Should you fail, we must not allow your - “ he pauses, then softly corrects himself, “ - _our_ padawan to be executed for a crime she did not commit. I am preparing for her...unfortunate escape from custody.”

Anakin tilts his head, curious, and tries to ignore the swell of _affectionpridewarmth_ in his chest at hearing Obi-Wan call Ahsoka _theirs_. At first, when other Jedi had commented on the unusual amount of time she spent training under both of them, Anakin had been jealous. Now he appreciates every bit of the bond that has forged between the three of them. It just might save her.

“How?” he asks. “What are you going to do? Do you need my help?”

“Focus on your part, Anakin,” Obi-Wan chastises him softly, tugging on a ringlet of Anakin’s overgrown hair. “And allow me to do mine. I think I will have plenty of assistance, if Master Plo’s recent comments about this farce of a trial are any indication. Plus, we mustn’t implicate you in any way, lest you be hauled before Tarkin and tried for treason as well.”

“Yes, master.” Behind his tired eyes, Anakin’s mind is already racing. There are a million things that could go wrong between this conversation and Ahsoka’s trial tomorrow, and her seemingly inevitable conviction. Anakin has no leads in the case for her defense, and even Padme only has so much influence over the Senate and the trial. Tarkin is out for blood and the Council is simply standing aside to let him hunt. But… Obi-Wan is on his side, just as he has always been, even when Anakin did his best to drive him away.

For now, that is enough.

Tomorrow, they have a padawan to free.


	3. To Throw Off the Shackles and Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think, perhaps, you two are the bravest pair I have ever seen.” Humor glimmers in his tired eyes. “Only time will tell if you are the wisest. Force willing, I intend to live to find out. Now go. Tell the good senator you may yet need to make use of our contingency plan. And do not be strangers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time because I started a new (exciting!) job on the 1st and literally didn't write a word between then and...oh, about two hours ago. But now that I've gotten into the swing of things I hope to keep updating this regularly.
> 
> Also, you can follow me on Tumblr as [unwhithered](http://unwhithered.tumblr.com/), where I reblog a lot of Clone Wars & Game of Thrones & Leverage stuff and ramble about my CLONE FEELS and my ridiculous collection of plants.

**One Day Before the Desertion of the 501st Legion, Jedi Temple, Coruscant**

Anakin and Ahsoka stand side-by-side, dumbfounded, as the Jedi Council extend their _sincerest_ apologies for hanging her out to dry. They were going to stand by and watch Tarkin have her sentenced to death. None of them can possibly have known of Obi-Wan and Plo Koon’s carefully hatched escape plan; the small ship with Senator Amidala’s political credentials waiting in an anonymous hangar bay, the clone commanders prepared to find themselves inconveniently occupied during a high-profile prisoner’s escape. Not even Ahsoka herself knows.  
They were going to _let her die_ for the sake of political convenience, and only now that she has turned down their pitiful offer of forgiveness have they finally begun to act outraged.

Obi-Wan’s left eyebrow quirks up a half-second before the fury Anakin has been shielding for days crackles through the Force with enough power to rock Yoda back on his heels, echoed by Ahsoka’s own quiet, exhausted disbelief and anger as she turns toward the door. “She _may_ return to the Order? You’ll deign to let her come back? How big of you, Masters -”

“Young Skywalker--” 

“This is hardly appropriate--”

Mace Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi both attempt to interrupt, but Anakin ignores them and reaches out to catch Ahsoka’s elbow before she can leave. Standing at his full height, he seems to cast the whole room in his shadow, and when Ahsoka blinks she sees her Master - her brother, her sole defender - standing in the eye of a tornado of righteous fury that sucks up every other negative emotion in the room. And then, between one blink and the next, it collapses into a wall of durasteel certainty, though he’s still practically spitting his words.

“If this is the wisdom and kindness that the Order sees fit to extend to one of its most loyal members, I want no part in it, or its bloody, wasteful, endless war.” Jaw set, he reaches for his belt. His lightsaber clatters to the floor at Windu’s feet. “I hereby renounce my Knightship, and all my titles and privileges as a member of the Order and a general in the Grand Army of the Republic.”

There is a moment of perfect silence, and stillness in the force. Then everyone begins to speak at once.

The only voice that matters to Anakin cuts through the white noise of arguing council members and the muddied waters of the Force to grab his attention. “Master, you can’t!”

“And yet he did,” Obi-Wan observes, maneuvering himself to shield Ahsoka from the rest of the council while Anakin simply ignores their existence. “I think, perhaps, you two are the bravest pair I have ever seen.” Humor glimmers in his tired eyes. “Only time will tell if you are the wisest. Force willing, I intend to live to find out. Now go. Tell the good senator you may yet need to make use of our contingency plan. And do not be strangers.”

“Yes, Master.” It is the first time Anakin has spoken softly all day. Some of the fury and certainty drains out of him as he meets the eyes of this steadfast, loyal, unfailingly kind man who is watching his students turn away from the only life he has ever known, and abandoning his teachings and the bright futures he had hoped for them. Somehow, Obi-Wan smiles through it and squeezes Anakin’s shoulder.

No longer a Jedi, Anakin doesn’t hesitate to wrap his master in a crushing hug instead, and Ahsoka throws her arms around Obi-Wan the second Anakin steps back. There is a suspicious wet glint to her eyes, and her voice is thick when she speaks. “May the Force be with you, Master. And thank you.”

“Oh, young one.” Obi-Wan strokes the crown of her head, where her padawan beads used to hang. “You have no masters now. Neither of you do.”

For the first time in Anakin’s young life, it’s true - and the realization is glorious. “C’mon, Snips,” he murmurs, dropping his arm on Ahsoka’s shoulders. She feels thinner and more fragile than she did a week ago, but she smiles tentatively up at him as they turn away from Obi-Wan and the still arguing Council, walking side by side out of the Temple that has at least nominally been their home for most of their young lives. They have nothing but the clothes on their backs, the skills of battle-hardened soldiers, and the friendship of Senator Amidala to rely on, but they’ve faced down more dangerous tasks with less.

“So,” Anakin asks, “what’s the plan?”

Ahsoka laughs sadly. “Aren’t we making it up as we go along, just like always?”

Something like terrified hope begins to echo between them as they step out into fading Coruscant sunlight.


	4. Hold Fast to Your Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What do we do with a thousand of the galaxy's best soldiers and a stolen ship?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, new job has eaten all of my inspiration and energy. I hope it makes up for that.
> 
> As always, you can find me at [unwhithered](unwhithered.tumblr.com) on tumblr, and you should also check out the amazing Clone Wars art [art](http://rosalia-art.tumblr.com/post/151766016258/someday-this-wall-may-be-the-only-thing-that) [my baby sister](http://rosalia-art.tumblr.com/post/151024606348/technically-a-commission-for-unwhithered-who) [has done](http://rosalia-art.tumblr.com/post/151580390618/missed-the-first-week-of-inktober-to-sickness-and).

**Ten Standard Hours After the Desertion of the 501st**

Stripped of his armored chest plates and outer tunic and with no lightsaber hanging at his belt, Anakin Skywalker looks strangely naked. Almost as naked as Rex, who is leaning over a command console bare headed and in a short civilian jacket. For some reason, after all that has happened to her in the past week, their attire is what feels strangest to Ahsoka. With a confused shake of her head, she wraps her Master’s outer tunic slightly tighter around herself and drags her eyes away from the men to look down at the datapad in her lap. 

The glowing screen displays two constantly updating lists - one of which sections of the sprawling ship have been explored and deemed safe for habitation by four-man teams of troopers, and the other an inventory of supplies discovered by the squads designated to follow more meticulously behind them. Every so often a red line of text pops up and Ahsoka reaches out to flag the corresponding section as unsafe or in need of repairs on a holo-map hovering above the console in front of her. She wants to be out there with the vod’e who are exploring the ship, but her Master has insisted on keeping her close since they left the Temple, and Rex had taken his side. Exploring the ship is grunt work, and there are plans to be made that require her input. She is, after all, the reason two former Jedi and a thousand-odd clone troopers are all rattling through hyperspace on a slaver’s ship that is more rust than durasteel.

“Ha!” Anakin straightens from his hunch over a control panel, holding up an unidentifiable tangle of wires and circuits. Ahsoka is a solid mechanic, but even she doesn’t pretend to know what it is. Rex is just staring blankly.

“I hope that wasn’t anything vital, General,” he comments dryly, before turning back to the console where he’s mapping out possible destinations.

“Just the last transponder could get us pinged as a stolen vessel.” Tossing the device aside carelessly, Anakin begins screwing the control panel it came out of back into place.

“Oh, good.” Ahsoka rolls her eyes dramatically. She can’t help it, Anakin practically begs to be mocked, and she’s had no way to vent her feelings of frustration in days of solitary confinement. “Now we’ll just be charged with desertion and treason against the Republic, rather than thievery. I’m sure that will lighten our sentences.” Despite her attempt to inject humor into the words, very real fear lurks beneath. What had seemed like the start of their next great adventure six hours ago is beginning to look more and more like a fool’s errand as she is faced with the reality of assigning quarters and calculating rations for a thousand men who abandoned everything they knew to follow their leaders into disgrace.

Anakin frowns, but doesn’t chastise her. There is still a feeling of righteous satisfaction radiating from him in the Force. “Looking on the bright side like always, Snips.” 

“I try, Skyguy.”

“Sirs,” Rex interrupts their sarcastic exchange with a familiar, put upon tone. When Ahsoka looks up again he’s leaning back against the console he had been studying earlier, arms crossed over his chest and broad shoulders straining against his ill fitting jacket. He really does look strange out of his armor. “This jump will put us in a mostly unoccupied bit of the Mid Rim, and we appear to have enough fuel to get us from there to anywhere we please on the Outer Rim. But we need a plan. Something to tell all those boys following us into the unknown. And before you say we didn’t have to -” He catches Anakin’s eye with the no-nonsense stare that had earned him the Jedi’s trust in the first place. Rex is not a trooper inclined to lie for the sake of his General’s pride, even if he is still obedient to a fault when they disagree. “There was never a choice, General, and you know it. You know as well as I what the casualty rates are like in the other legions, how most generals treat their troops. Every one of my brothers and I would die for you. But I’m not prepared to throw their lives away in another pointless battle at someone else’s whim. Not anymore.”

Silence pools between them for long, uncomfortable minutes, interrupted only by the creaks and groans of the old ship’s systems, and the occasional beep of a communications terminal. Ahsoka bows her head rather than face him down and rubs at the base of her montrals, where weeks of tension had created a seemingly constant ache.

“I know, Rex,” Anakin finally replies, sounding as tired as he feels for the first time since he stepped out of the Temple. “It was selfish, not considering what would happen to you when we left. I…” He glances at his tense, tired padawan - no, former padawan. They are no longer Jedi. That’s going to take some getting used to. “ _We_ value your loyalty, and your lives, more than I can say. I will not let the vod’e be harmed for placing their trust in us, and should we be captured, I intend to take full responsibility for tricking the 501st into abandoning their posts. You have my word.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

When Ahsoka looks back up, she realizes that Rex had been holding himself tense since the moment they stepped onto the ship, and he’s only now beginning to unwind. After the way she had spent the last few days, she knows the feeling. She’s pretty sure the knots in her shoulders and the ache in her head won’t begin to fade until they are half a galaxy away from Coruscant.

Remembering Obi-Wan’s parting words, she speaks softly. “Not sir. He’s not your general anymore, Rex, and I’m not your commander. We have no masters anymore.”

“If it’s all the same, sir, that’s one step I’m not quite ready to make yet.” 

“Alright then, Captain,” she says, nodding her head in acknowledgement. The tight smile she receives in return was a start, especially when accompanied by the twinkle in his dark eyes. Nudging her master, she straightens up. “Let’s make a plan. What do we do with a thousand of the galaxy’s best soldiers and a stolen ship?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, guys, and a bit of a shift in theme and tone. I had meant to write something else entirely for this chapter, but this is what came out - and I'm okay with that, because it's a good jumping off point for what I'd like to cover in the inevitable sequel. Namely, what _do_ you do with two former Jedi and a thousand of the galaxy's best soldiers on a stolen ship, all of whom are used to following a strict chain of command in service of a Greater Cause?
> 
> Also, there will definitely be more Republic Commandos characters in the next one. I meant to use Kal and his boys more in this and just...didn't?

**Author's Note:**

> Republic Commandos + The Clone Wars give me so many feels which I feel the need to share. I'm considering writing how Ahsoka and Anakin actually leave, and follow-ups about what the 501st and their former Generals get up to during the end of the Clone Wars.


End file.
